Skip to main content

The Dead of Winter

We're still in the dead of winter here in Calgary; it was -36 degrees Celsius with the wind chill today.

It hasn't stopped snowing since mid-November.

The children have had more indoor recess this year than I'd care to think about.

Everyone's patience, including my own, is wearing thin.

It's report card time and parent conferences loom in the not too distant future.

The progress I've made with some of my students is looking precarious.

One step forward, two steps back.

It's time to revisit procedures we practiced in September.

It's time to redirect our attention to the growth of our classroom community.

It's time to regroup, set priorities, and move forward.

By writing this down I'm feeling better already.



http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/solsc-2011-131translation-slice-of-life-story-challenge-2011-day-1-of-31/

Comments

elsie said…
Brrrr! I couldn't live in perpetual cold. Just today I was walking around the backyard noticing the stirrings of life from the earth. Tulips have popped throught the soil. I hope the warmth comes soon. Winter has been too long this year.
1 March 2011 at 20:55
Anonymous said…
i think you've captured the hardest part of teaching that non-educators don't really understand: WE GET TIRED OF EACH OTHER AND NEED A BREAK! haha.... ;)
1 March 2011 at 21:52
Anonymous said…
I {heart} lists and yours is no exception. It's the specifics, I think, that captured me. I'm glad writing made you feel better.
1 March 2011 at 22:57
Becky said…
Wishing warm thoughts your way. We have had an unusual number of snow days here in Missouri and I feel we will be going too many days in June to make them up. Oh well!
1 March 2011 at 23:42
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou
Post a Comment
Read more

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversational skills .  As in
Post a Comment
Read more

Are we listening?

A child sits alone with a ripped worksheet packet on his desk. He appears to be singing or subvocalizing something though no one hears him. Or, perhaps they're ignoring him. The teacher stands at the front of the room teaching on the SmartBoard. The children follow along in their worksheets. Except the child sitting alone. He is in his own world. No one engages him and he engages no one. My heart aches for this child. He is physically and emotionally removed from the class. I ask him why his paper is ripped. (It's not an accidental rip.) He says he did that on a different day. When he had been frustrated about the work. He tells me that he sometimes sits by himself because the work is too hard for him. He later tells me that he sits by himself because the teacher thinks he talks too much during the lesson.  He says he does that because he wants to find out about the "lives of the other children". My first impulse is to rescue him from the wrongheade
10 comments
Read more